Lever mechanism for vehicle-brakes.



F.' W. MATZ.

LEVER MECHANISM FOR VEHICLE BRAKES.

WITNESSES INVENTOR ATTORNEY "be` lrendered ineffective y'to propel the vehiele..

"tion, land rnnnnmcxw. Mainz. or VALLEY cIrY, Nonnen palmira;-

'To'. .whom it may concern:

Be known that I, FREDERICKW. MATZ,

' a citizen of theUnited States,'residing at view, which willappearv as the description Valley City, inthe countyfof Barnes and 'State of North Dakota, have invented certain newA and useful Improvements in Lever Mechanism'or.Vehicle-Brakes, of whichthe ollowln'gis 'a specification.

vThis'invention Irelates tov vehicle brakes, and more' partlcularly to; yemergency brakes jfor automobiles. V

"The primary object of this invention isl to `provide 'improved means Y for actuating A the-Wheel brakes yof automobiles or power l "wheels throughditferential gear mechanism.- In this class of machines, it is well knownV that if one traction wheel happens to stand driven" vehicles which' drive their traction ony a vslippery spot it' will tend to whirl at excessive speedand the driving energy will In other words, a vehicle equipped with' a" differential driving Agear` will be have" good and approximately equal trachenthe two wheels'have not the same traction or frictional'V engagement with the g1,'ound','th ev` driving .force is always measured :by thetraction' of the wheel that Williirst'I slip, and it is vto f overcome these objections that this invention is designed. ""The objecitv of the invention is to so 'construct, mount, andiconnect abrake lever of "this character .that it may bev manipulated to apply either.,brakeiindependently of the other orto set both simultaneously.

With the foregoing and other objects in proceeds, the invention residesin the combination and arrangement of parts and in the Y details of construction hereinafter described and claimeditbeing understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed may be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 represents a front elevation of an emergency brake lever and its connected parts, said lever being shown in full lines, set for vactuating both .brakes simultaneously, and in dotted lines for actuating one of them independently of the other, parts being in section, and

Fig. 2 is a 'vertical section taken on thel line 2-#2 of Fig. 1.

specification of man raient.

` the rods 8.

iently,

In the `embodiment illustrated a brake` lever 1 is shown fulcrumed on a rod or shaft n v Patented July je, 1918. i A. Appueanonmedrebruary12,191s. serialnaziavsa. f' v 2.which is rotatably mounted inbearings 3 carried by brackets 4 iXedl to the chassis Cv 0f a vehicle. Y

Mounted for rotation on thel'shaftfQ are.y

avpair of sleeves 5 and 6 arranged on oppo-V .slte sides of the lever 1 and having -their lnnery ends spaced therefrom. Brakefrod..

draw arms 7 are fixed to these sleeves, beinghere shown arranged near the outer ends thereof and which are connected-[with vthe brake rods as 8, said rods being designed for connection with the usual brakes,fnot shown.

Carried by theinner ends of the. sleeves 5 and 6 areupstanding substantially semi# circular castings have their adjacent edges spaced a' sufficient distance -to permit therotation of one-of the sleeves 5 independently of the other and; yet close enough together to permit yboth of the castingsto be engaged by the leyer 1, when set in central position as shown in vfull lines in Fig. 1; will be obvious thata backward or'forwa'rd of the sleeves 5 and 6 and thereby'simul'- taneouslyactuate the brake 'connectedwith When the lever'pl is shiftedwto a the left into the dotted line position shown in Fig. 1, it will engage the casting 9 only and'y consequently when the lever is moved back r forth, the sleeve 5 only willrotate and 9 and 10 which normally When this lever-is sof's'et,l` it thereby` operate the brake lwhich'it controls,

the other brake remaining inoperativedur# ing this movement. Itis ofvcourse: understood to operate theother'brake independthe lever 1 willbe shitedtoward-.the right to cause it to engage the casting 10 only.

A semi-circular toothed rack 11 is mounted in convenient position to be engaged by a spring pressed dog 12 carried by the lever 1 so that when said lever is adjusted it may be locked in such position by the dog springing into engagement with the teeth ofthe rack. It belng well understood that to release the lever, all that is necessary is to compress the handle 13 which is connected with the dog by the connection 14 in a manner commonly used in devices of this character.

By constructing this device so that the lever 1 may be actuated to operate one or the other of the brakes independently a great dvartage will be obtained in that should one of the rear wheels of the vehicle spin in the mud and theother having a solid footing, the brake lever may be positioned so as to -set the .brake on the side to ,which the wheel is spinning, just a sufficient distanceto prevent the turning of the Wheel, so that it becomes a base of re-action whereby all of the drivin force is transmitted to the other wheel whlch has a solid footing to draw the vehicle out and propel it forward.

This arrangement is also especially useful should a`vehicle skid, for instance, should the driver desire toY turn toward the-left, andthe front wheels of the vehicle slide straight ahead, the left brake can be slightly set and the wheel in connection Withewhich' it is used will exert a pull backward 'on the car, and the right rearI wheel will pull forcibly forward thereby enabling the car to turn a corner.

From theforegoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the advantages ofthe construction and of the method of operation willbe readily apparent to those skilled in the art to which theinvention appertains and while I have described the principle of operation of the invention together with the device which I ynonr conslder to be the best embodiment thereof, I desire to have it understood that the device shown is merely illustrative and that such changes may -be made asare within the scope of the claimed invention.

I claim 1. The combination withl a pair of brake actuating rods, a lever for controlling said rods mounted yto swing in planes at right with one or the other of said elements, to`

attuate one of the brakes independently of the other or with both of them to actuata-'the` brakes simultaneously. l

2. The combination with a supporting structure, a shaft rotatably mounted therein,

.a lever fulcrumed on said shaftto swing in -and having 'upstandin Hedges' spaced a sufficient distance therotation of one sleeve indepehdently of l 90 both castings to be engaged ,by the lever `l tudinally alined sleeves rotatably mounted on said shaft on opposite sides of said lever elements at their inner ends positioned in the path .of the 1ever, brake bar arms secured to saidsleeves,

brake rods connected with said arms, said lever being operable to,l engage one, or the other of said upstanding elements or both of them at the will of the operator whereby, one brake may be actuated independentl ofthe other or both simultaneously actuated'. 3. The combination with a supporting structure,of a shaft rotatably 'mounted :'ll,v said structure, a lever fulcrumed on said.

shaft lto be moved back and' forth and laterally, sleeves carried by said shaft on opposite sides of said lever, semi-circular Gast'- ings risin from the inner 'ends of lsaid sleevesan encompassing said lever, the opposite faces of said castingsv being spaced slightly apart" to 'permit one' sleevc'to be' rotated independently of the other when its respective casting is engaged bythe lever,x

and brake rods connected with said sleeves and adapted to be actuated bythe turning of the sleeves. p V. 1

4. The combination with a 'vehicle chassis ings, a lever fulcrumed' on said shaft midway its-ends, rotatable sleeves on saidshaft on opposite sides of -said lever -and having their inner ends'spaced from the lever, brake rod draw arms'tixed to saidsleeves, brake rodsvconnected with said arms, upstanding semi-circular castings carried by the inner ends of said sleeves with' their adjacent the other, and yet 'close enough to vpermit when set in central position.

to permit 'having transversely spaced and alined bearings; of a shaft rotatableA within said bear- In testimony whereof I alii; my signature in presence of two witnesses.-

` FREDERICK u:

Witnesses: A

' JAMES W. NmLsoN, F. LyLooMxa. 

